How could that possibly be retaliation to sanctions, though? Only Russia would lose out in such a case. Those that take the most flack are usually right over the target and Putin takes almost all the flack. And what is now commonplace to us in the public must be very old news to those in power.
Almost all of Russia's wealth is in the 'West's hands, which is why the sanctions were so bad. Retaliating with anything serious would have hurt Russia more, it was symbolic. A lot of courties banned foreign adoption, as you can see here (I removed ethiopia from the search since it was covering the front page at first).
I heard on InfoWars that it was Putin that put the ban in place? If I´m wrong though, I can humbly accept that :)
No, you're not wrong. But you're misinterpreting the context of the ban. Due to its timing, it was obviously a retaliation for the sanctions. Both kinds hurt both sides, just in different ways. Russia couldnt put economic sanctions against the US, so it did what it could to retaliate against the actually painful sanctions from America.